Loss of OVOL2 in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Promotes Fatty Acid Oxidation Fueling Stemness Characteristics

Authors

Ruipeng Lu
Jingjing Hong
Tong Fu
Yu Zhu
Ruiqi Tong
Di Ai
Shuai Wang
Qingsong Huang
Ceshi Chen
Zhiming Zhang
Rui Zhang
Huiling Guo
Boan Li

Publication Date

6-1-2024

Journal

Advanced Science

Abstract

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), the most aggressive subtype of breast cancer, has a poor prognosis and lacks effective treatment strategies. Here, the study discovered that TNBC shows a decreased expression of epithelial transcription factor ovo-like 2 (OVOL2). The loss of OVOL2 promotes fatty acid oxidation (FAO), providing additional energy and NADPH to sustain stemness characteristics, including sphere-forming capacity and tumor initiation. Mechanistically, OVOL2 not only suppressed STAT3 phosphorylation by directly inhibiting JAK transcription but also recruited histone deacetylase 1 (HDAC1) to STAT3, thereby reducing the transcriptional activation of downstream genes carnitine palmitoyltransferase1 (CPT1A and CPT1B). PyVT-Ovol2 knockout mice develop a higher number of primary breast tumors with accelerated growth and increased lung-metastases. Furthermore, treatment with FAO inhibitors effectively reduces stemness characteristics of tumor cells, breast tumor initiation, and metastasis, especially in OVOL2-deficient breast tumors. The findings suggest that targeting JAK/STAT3 pathway and FAO is a promising therapeutic strategy for OVOL2-deficient TNBC.

Keywords

Triple Negative Breast Neoplasms, Animals, Mice, Female, Fatty Acids, Oxidation-Reduction, Humans, STAT3 Transcription Factor, Mice, Knockout, Carnitine O-Palmitoyltransferase, Cell Line, Tumor, Disease Models, Animal, Neoplastic Stem Cells

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Supplementary Materials

PMID: 38627980